PlayStation at SXSW: A Texas-Sized Thanks

We weren’t really sure what to expect at South by Southwest. Sure, we knew the BBQ would be plentiful and delicious (and it was), but we also knew that with dozens of open parties per night and hundreds of bands playing across the downtown area, that there’d be plenty of competition for attention.

Fortunately, Austin was filled with PlayStation fans. From the time crews began setting up the PlayStation Lounge on the corner of 2nd and Trinity, people started poking their heads in, wondering when we were going to open. Even TV crews stopped by to see what we were building.

The end result was a custom branded PlayStation shrine, complete with an attention-grabbing rooftop LED jumbotron.

When we finally opened the doors Thursday, both SXSW attendees and local Austinites streamed in to play Resistance 3, SOCOM 4, Ratchet & Clank All 4 One, and see UNCHARTED 3 demoed in 3D. Over 500 of you passed through the doors each night, ensuring that the PlayStation Lounge was a hot ticket (even on the SXSW Hotspots app).

Much like Comic-Con, celebrities can be seen walking the city streets at SXSW, and a couple dropped by the PlayStation Lounge. Brittany Snow went hands on with Ratchet and Clank All 4 One and wielded the PlayStation Move sharp shooter in SOCOM 4, while Rosario Dawson played a new demo of inFAMOUS 2. Dawson in particular is a huge gamer, and in addition to crushing it with Cole, she chatted with me on her anticipation of Batman: Arkham City.

As cool as this is, it bums me out a lot because you guys always announce your’e where you’re going to be and I always wish I can go, and the time you come to my home town you don’t announce it until after you left. I actually looked at the SXSW schedule on the website and it said Playstation Lounge was only open through the 13th, so I thought it was over. Definitely would have stopped by with my GAP shirt and my copy of Killzone 3 to get it signed by you. Give me some heads up next time! : )